Freddie's Got A Secret
by LostOne125
Summary: Shane/Freddie. hints of slash. Carly and Sam notice Freddie's been acting weird. They're determined to find out why. What happens when they do find out the truth?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly or the characters.**

**Freddie's Got a Secret**

Carly was the first to notice Freddie's change in behavior.

He didn't spend as much time with her and Sam anymore. When she asked him about his other plans, he would stutter and come up with lame excuses. Like the one time, he said that he was going shopping for itch cream with his Mom. Carly wouldn't put it past Ms. Benson to make him do that sort of thing, but she felt like he was lying.

Then, he seemed a little happier. This didn't seem like something to worry too much about, except when Sam poured gravy in his seat in class, and he plopped down in it.

Don't ask Carly where Sam got it from. She was always showing up in class with food.

Freddie did the weirdest thing. He just laughed and shrugged it off and left the classroom to call his mom for a new pair of pants.

Sam glanced over at Carly with a look of disbelief. "He is really starting to freak me out."

Carly nodded in agreement.

When they were hanging out upstairs at Carly's place lounging around, Freddie's phone started ringing. He looked at it and got up from the beanbag chair with a large grin which he tried to hide but failed miserably at.

Carly grew curious. "Who is that?"

Freddie's face turned red and he grumbled," Nobody," and ran out of the room. Carly and Sam shared a look.

"Arrgh, I can't take it anymore. Fredward is hiding something, and I plan on finding out. Are you in?" Sam cried, jumping from her seat.

Carly got from her seat. "Oh, you know I'm in. The secrecy is killing me."

Their first plan was to eavesdrop on his conversation in the hall. Carly and Sam stood next to the door and cracked it open.

"_Hey. No, I'm just hanging out with Sam and Carly."_

They heard an indistinct voice reply and Freddie chuckling. _"I missed you, too."_

"_I'm on my way. I'll meet you there."_

Carly and Sam scrambled back to their seats, as Freddie came back into the room. Freddie looked at the innocent looks on his friends' faces; he grew suspicious, but he pushed it to the back of his mind.

"Uh, my mom just called; she wants me to come home, so she can give me a flea bath. You know how it is," he grumbled, as he tried to look irritated.

Carly stood up and faced her friend, giving him a look. "Really?"

The dark-haired boy squirmed in his place and avoided her probing gaze. "Yeah, I gotta go. I'll see you guys later," he yelled, as he practically ran from the room.

The two began to plot various ways to spy on their friend.

Sam stood by Carly and said, "What a weirdo...You want to follow him."

Carly grinned. "You know it."

Carly and Sam quickly darted out of the room, clambering down the stairs, just in time to see Freddie closing the door.

Spencer was standing in the kitchen looking at them with his hands full of peanut butter. "What are you guys doing?"

Sam turned back to face him, eyeing the brown stuff in his hands. "Freddie's got some secret girlfriend, and we're going to follow him to find out who it is."

"Alright, Freddie!" he yelled, "Dating girls and being all mysterious about it."

"We can't stay; we have to go," Carly added, as they rushed to the door. She didn't have to figure out why he had globs of peanut butter in his fists.

They peeked out the front door to see him disappear down the hall, turning a corner. They looked at each other and grinned, as Operation Follow-Freddie came into effect. As they walked down streets, everything became a blur. The only focus was their guy friend. They ducked behind trees, telephone poles, and mailboxes, before they realized they were back at school. Freddie was walking up the stairs hurriedly.

"Are you kidding me? Why are we back here? Don't I see enough school at the regular scheduled hours? I thought he was going to see some girl," Sam whispered, as they trailed behind Freddie, leaning against a row of lockers.

Carly was confused. She thought sure Freddie was leading them to some new girlfriend he was hiding. She thought maybe he was afraid for them to find out about her.

"I don't know."

They peeped from behind a corner to see Freddie walk into a room. It was the room where AV Club met.

Sam pushed from herself from the wall and began pacing. "I thought we were going to find out some juicy secret that I could possibly blackmail him with, but I already know he's a nerd. What am I going to do with this?" she said as pointed toward the room

Carly put a finger to her lip and shushed her. "Will you be quiet? Maybe he just stopped by to get something. We'll wait and see what happens. It's called a stakeout. Cops do it all the time."

The blonde crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently. "I'm not a cop, and I don't want to know how they do anything." She turned the corner, heading toward the classroom door.

Carly tackled her and dragged her back behind the corner. "If you go in there, you'll ruin everything. Let's just wait, please. Don't you want to know?"

Sam struggled to her feet, frowning and grumbling. "Fine, Fine, Fine."

They waited patiently in the hall, sticking their heads out to spy. An hour later, the door opened. Freddie walked out, smiling widely. Someone else came out behind him, closing the door.

Carly looked at Sam with shocked eyes and mouthed, "It's Shane."

They leaned a little closer to listen to their conversation.

"Thanks for coming over and helping me with my project. I just needed another set of eyes," Shane said with a little twinkle in his eyes.

Freddie was facing him and nibbling on his lip nervously. Carly noticed they were standing really close together.

"It's fine; you know I don't mind it," he said with a slight blush.

Shane only smiled and leaned down and kissed Freddie on the cheek. "I know I can depend on you. Why do you think I like you so much?"

Sam nearly choked on her tongue, as lips met Freddie's red cheek. _'Is this what I think it is?' _

Freddie blushed a deeper red and grinned up at the taller boy. "Stop being all mushy and let's go."

Shane chuckled and wrapped an arm around the smaller boy's waist. "Can I come over?" he asked, as he pressed his forehead against Freddie's.

The girl's eyes locked on each other; they shared a shocked expression. They quickly turned to the scene in front of them with wonder in their eyes.

A small smile graced Freddie's features as he nodded. "My mom's going to be working late. If she comes home early, she'll just think you're spending the night again."

"Oh my God," Carly said softly. '_Freddie was with Shane. Since when? How was that possible? When did this happen?'_

Shane smiled and swept a hand through his hair. "Sounds like a plan to me." He slid his hand into Freddie's and tugged him down the hallway as they whispered to each other and laughed.

Carly leaned back against the wall in complete shock. Sam leaned back beside her. Both their jaws hanging wide open.

"I can't believe this. Shane and Freddie…together. What is going on here?" Sam muttered.

Carly glanced over at her. "I know right. It's like we've slipped into some weird alternate universe. I thought Freddie was in love with me, and I thought Shane liked girls. This is all really strange."

"Uh, you think."

Carly and Sam waited a few minutes before walking out of the school and trudging back to Carly's apartment. They said nothing as they tried to wrap their heads around what just happened.

Once they got in, Spencer was gone, so they slowly walked upstairs. Sam plopped down in a beanbag chair and Carly sat down in one opposite her.

"You think we should say anything? I mean he would've told us, if he wanted us to know," Sam grumbled, feeling oddly hurt.

"I don't know. I mean Shane is someone we both liked. You think he would've told us something. He didn't even tell us he was dating anybody," Carly said as she got up and paced the room.

"Maybe he was scared of what we might say."

Carly stopped pacing and looked at her friend. "I think that's it, but we're his best friends. He should know he can tell us anything."

Sam just shrugged. "We could always trick him into telling us."

"No, I don't wanna do it that way. We should just wait until he's ready …maybe with a little encouragement."

Sam nodded in agreement. "So, you're basically agreeing with my idea but just made it sound nicer."

"Yeah, pretty much." Carly sat down in the other beanbag chair.

She bit her lips and glanced at her friend in embarrassment, a blush forming on her face. "Am I the only one who thought they looked really cute together?"

Sam gave her an incredulous look then proceeded to fidget in her seat. Silence reigned over the room for a few minutes, before Sam spoke up. "Alright, Alright, they looked totally hot together, and I'm ignoring the fact that this is Freddie we're talking about, who is not hot at all. It's only because of Shane."

"Yeah, right," Carly muttered, thoughts scattered.

"You do realize Freddie…_Freddie_ just stole a guy from the both of us," her blonde friend said with a quirked eyebrow.

"Yes and strangely I'm okay with it." Carly got up. "Are you hungry?"

Sam hopped up. "Duh, of course. You just made me go to school twice in one day. I need something to deal with the horrible experience."

Carly smiled and walked down the stairs with Sam trailing behind her. _They'd just have to wait for Freddie to tell them or... corner him and force it out of him. _

* * *

I've had this sitting on my computer for months becuase I was never happy with it.

Finally, I think I got it where I wanted it to be.

Hope you liked it.

Please review.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly or the characters.**

It had been a week since they discovered Freddie's secret romance. Freddie still hadn't said anything to them about Shane.

And finally, it was becoming too much for Carly to keep her mouth shut any longer.

"We have to do something. I thought I could wait but I can't. It's time we give Freddie a little encouragement," Carly said with a wild gleam in her eye, as she sat on the couch.

A smirk spread across Sam's face, who was slumped beside her watching television. "It's about time. I thought I was going to have to do this on my own. You were being very stubborn, you know."

"Well, excuse me for trying to wait until Freddie was ready," she replied indignantly,"Oh that rhymed."

Sam rolled her eyes and stood up. "Whatever. Can we get this show on the road?"

Carly simply nodded in agreement. It was time to convince their friend to tell his secret.

First, Carly and Sam approached Shane in the hallway at school, just to see what he would say. He was at his locker. One look up at them and he was slamming his locker and running down the hall.

"That went well," Sam said. She stuffed her hands in her pocket as they turned around and walked back down the hall.

"Can you really blame him? We made him fall down an elevator shaft. I'd run from me too."

Sam waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. "Oh, please, he's fine now. You saw the way he ran away. It was an accident. You think he'd be over that by now."

They arrived at their lockers, feeling a bit defeated.

Carly closed her locker and looked at her friend. "What do we do now?" Sam looked thoughtful for a moment, tilting her head to the side. Her eyes lit up. "Let me try something and I'll let you know."

Later on that day, Sam caught Freddie at his locker.

"Hey, Freddie," she said, trying not to act suspicious. Freddie turned to look at her with his eyes narrowed.

"Hey."

Sam huffed in annoyance. She hadn't even done anything yet or said anything, and he looked like he was ready to bolt.

"Um…I just wanted to let you know something."

"Yeah, what?"

"We're friends right?"

"…………..Uuuuuh, I guess." Freddie blinked in confusion.

Sam gazed at him with an indignant look on her face. "That was a really long pause, Benson."

Freddie held up his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, we're friends. Where exactly are you going with this?"

Sam shifted from foot to foot. This was really not her department. It was more of Carly's. She handled the frou-frou emotions and other touchy-feely crap. "I just wanted you to know that I'm…here…if you ever want to talk."

A few seconds ticked by.

Freddie's eyes widened to a comical width. "Sam, you are really creeping me out."

"I'm creeping myself out. You know what, this conversation never happened," she muttered darkly as glared at him.

Freddie nodded in agreement. "Yeah, so I'm just going to go."

"Me, too." Sam quickly stalked away, not looking back.

As they sat up upstairs at Carly's apartment, Sam told Carly what happened and the other girl started laughing.

"You did what?"

"I thought if he heard me saying that maybe he'd get overly emotional, and it would all come spilling out or something."

"Oh, God. What gave you that idea? It sounds like a bad sappy movie."

"Maybe I've been watching a couple lifetime movies," she mumbled.

Carly wiped her eyes from the tears spilling down her cheek in laughter. "Well, he's definitely not going to think we're up to something now."

Sam frowned. "Well, if you're so smart, what are you going to do?"

Carly just smiled. "Wait and see."

The next day, Carly invited Freddie over to hang out.

With a knock on the door, Carly sped to the door and opened it while Freddie was in mid-knock.

"Uh, hey," he said with a quirked eyebrow.

"Hey, come on in." She grabbed his arm and yanked him into the room. He stumbled into the den, barely keeping his balance.

She watched as he looked around the room in hesitation.

"Carly, am I interrupting something?"

She smiled and shook her head.

The room was bathed in darkness with only a single candle on the small table on front of the couch. She had placed strawberries and small sandwiches on the table.

"Why don't you sit down?" she asked, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

Freddie's face seemed to go pale in the candlelight, and he slowly sat down."Oh, okay."

Carly sat down right beside him, leaning into him slightly. She felt his body stiffen at the contact. She grinned to herself and took his hand in hers.

"What are you doing?" a slightly shaking Freddie asked, turning to stare at her in mounting horror.

She batted her eyelashes like she practiced in the mirror. "I just want to make sure you're comfortable," she replied in an innocent tone.

"Carly, did you set up a romantic lunch for us?"

Carly scooted closer to him and laughed in her head, when she felt him trying to inch away. "What do you think?"

"I thought you didn't like me like that."

"Things change. I've just been thinking a lot lately, about us."

A moment of silence reigned until Freddie spoke with regret in his tone. "I can't Carly. I don't feel that way about you anymore. I'm sorry."

Carly mentally cheered in her head. Her face turned into a frown, when he faced her, trying to look upset. "Um… is there someone else?" she said, trying not to sound hopeful.

Freddie gave her a look that made her want to start dancing. He was going to tell her. He was finally going to say it. He opened his mouth and the door banged open.

"Why is it so dark in here?" Spencer asked, dropping his boxes to the floor and flicking on the light switch.

Spencer turned and looked at the candle burning, then at the food, then at Freddie, then at Carly, back at the food, and then back at the candle, which Carly lurched forward and blew out.

"Am I interrupting something?"

"No!" they both shouted.

"Uh, okay, Weirdoes McWeirdosons," he said, eyes shifting from one to the other.

Freddie suddenly stood up and headed toward the door. "I'll talk to you later, Carly."

She stood up and walked after him. "You don't have to leave. We can just go somewhere else and talk."

He twisted around and stared. "Uh, maybe another time. I really am sorry Carly…I just…"

Carly waved her hand. "Oh, don't worry about me. I'll be fine. You're one of my best friends, and I completely respect your decision. Just finish what you were going to say."

Freddie looked at her like she was crazy, which was a reasonable assessment. "You're not upset."

Loud clanking noises started to make it hard to hear.

"No, not at all!" she shouted so he could hear her. She glanced over to see Spencer rifling through the boxes he bought in.

Freddie's face relaxed into something akin to relief. "I'll talk to you later."

Carly watched as he left and spun on Spencer. "Thanks a lot, you ruined my plan."

Spencer stopped and gazed at her with a scandalous expression on his face. "I thought you guys said I wasn't interrupting anything."

"We were just being nice."

"Annnnd, I thought Freddie had a secret girlfriend, so why are you setting up romantic things for him."

"Try secret boyfriend," she murmured under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. It's not what you think, Spencer. I was just trying to get Freddie to tell me something."

"Well, he'll tell you on his own time. Can't force it."

Carly peeped into his boxes and smiled. "Why do you have a box full of flashlights?"

An excited look passed over his features. "I'm making a man made completely out of flashlights. I will call him Flashman."

With one eye on Carly's unimpressed look, he sighed. "The title sounded so much cooler in my head."

"And probably a lot less creepy. Sounds like someone who goes around flashing people."

"Huh, I didn't think of it that way. What about Lightman?"

Carly nodded her head in approval. "That sounds a little better."

Freddie was now avoiding them or acting awkwardly around them. Sam was fairly sure he thought aliens had taken over their brains.

This was their last chance to convince him to tell them or she was just going to spontaneously combust from the sheer largeness of the secret.

Sam plopped down on the couch, after going to the refrigerator and grabbing a plate of barbecue chicken. She was going to need all the comfort food she could get.

Carly walked down the stairs and sat beside her. "Are you sure this is going to work?"

_I hope so._ Sam sighed. "Of course it will. I mean how more straightforward can we be."

A knock on the door ceased any further conversation. Carly jumped to her feet and opened the door.

Freddie was standing in the hall way, eyes on the floor.

She tried to show him a smile. "Come on in, Freddie." He finally met her eyes and a small grin slid across his face at her smile. He went inside and plopped down on the couch."Hey. Hey, Sam."

Sam put the large bowl of popcorn on the table. "Hey, Fredweird."

Carly sat down beside him, a comfortable distance away. He noticed and let out a sigh, settling more comfortably into the cushions.

"Um, so we're trying to decide what to watch. These are our two choices," Carly said, trying to sound as normal as possible. She put the two movies down in front of him.

It took a few minutes, but they finally got a reaction.

Freddie's eyes grew to the size of saucers. "Where did you get Brokeback Mountain from?"

Sam sat up a little straighter. "My mom had the bootleg. Why you got a problem with that movie? Cause, we don't mind dudes kissing, do you, Carly?"

"Nope," she said, laughing nervously.

"I mean everyone has the right to live their life the way they want to. Right, Carly?"

"So right."

Freddie looked at Sam, then Carly, then back at Sam, and then back at Carly, before returning to the movie case. "Is there something you two are trying to tell me?" he asked, voice low and hesitant.

Carly grabbed his hand in a comforting gesture. "Is there something you want to tell us?"

Freddie stared at his two friends for a few minutes.

"I'm dating somebody; it's a guy. It's actually Shane."

Sam stopped pulling on her hair. "Oh my God, it's about time, you told us. I thought I was going to burst and run up and down the streets screaming."

"You mean you knew about Shane this whole time," Freddie said accusingly, face red as a tomato.

Carly gave him a look. "It was for a week, actually. Everything we've been doing was to encourage…."

"Trick…"Sam interjected.

"…Encourage you to be more comfortable with telling us. You're our best friend, Freddie. You should've just told us."

Freddie sniffled a little and turned away to wipe at his face. "I wasn't sure how you guys would react. No wonder you guys were acting so weird."

"Us? You were the one acting all bubbly and happy. That's why we followed you to school and saw you with Shane," Sam snapped back. She softened her tone, "You should've just told us. We're not going to judge you."

"Thanks you guys. It means a lot to me," Freddie mumbled staring at the wall, feeling a little overwhelmed.

"Awwww, group hug, everybody," Carly choked out.

Freddie and Carly stood up, and they looked at Sam expectantly.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright. Just this once."

Sam also got up and put her arms around Freddie and Carly's shoulders as they did the same.

They all took a deep breath, finally everyone pulled apart.

"So, when you said you liked me, you were just trying to get me to confess?" he asked, with a raised eyebrow.

Carly pouted and looked guilty. "Yeah, I was desperate. You can't blame me for trying that one."

Freddie shook his head in amusement.

Sam laughed. "That was pretty devious. I'm so proud of you, Carly."

They all sat down on the couch.

"Can we please watch the movie with giant robots destroying crap to cover up the mushiness of this moment?" Sam pleaded at them both.

Freddie smiled. "I'd like that too. Carly?"

Carly got up and went to the kitchen."Yeah, let me just get the popcorn."

"Besides, I've already seen Brokeback."

The entire room went silent.

"Y…You're mom let you watch that," Carly sputtered, walking back over and sitting beside him with the bowl in her arms.

Freddie grinned. "Nope, I'm just messing with you guys." Sam threw a pillow at his head as he and Carly started laughing.

"Good one, Freddie. But, dude, check the case it's totally empty. My mom won't let me borrow it. She won't even let it leave her room."

They all laughed again and settled back and watched the movie. Freddie glanced at his two friends and smiled to himself. He was glad to have his friends back. He just hoped they didn't ask to meet up with Shane. The poor guy still hadn't recovered mentally.

* * *

I probably will write a prequel to this story, centering around Shane and Freddie and how they got together. It seemed like this story needed another chapter, so here you go.

Hope you liked it.

Please review. : )


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